Land Plane - Using to get rid of potholes

[JohnnyMX]

I just recently got my EA land plane and had about an hour or so with my 1/2 mile driveway. I had some serious potholes that were probably at least 4-5" deep. I know that I am supposed to rip those out to allow the material to re-pack as opposed to just filling the hole. Am I supposed to be using the landplane to make repeated passes until the holes are scraped to the bottom, or just drop the rippers to break those up? Many of the more mile potholes were cut out by just the blade alone. I know I also don't want to disturb the entire driveway too deep.

Any advice from owners out there?

 

[LittleBill21]

it would take me 3 years if I didn't use my rippers on the initial go, set them as high as you can and lower as needed. It does not seem like I need rippers after the initial rip, you can easily dig in very deep, but my tractor is underpowered for my land plane, you will prolly have less issue

 

[Smokeydog]

Rippers didn’t work on my driveway. Just used the EA land plane and pot holes disappeared. Advantage of maintaining with land plane is minimal disturbance with fines management that keep compaction. Has been a very useful tool for the past 5 years. Highly recommend.

 

[Williy]

I finally got my LS land grader/plane and it
looks like the Bad Boy unit. Sure don't need
the extra support on the top and sides like the
other companies make as the side panels don't
bend and nothing to make them bend. My dealer
Mike at K& S tractor Lubbock, TX delivered it no
charge along with my 3 PT hitch I think its a
Buckwell brand and it was almost too much for this
old feller think it weights over a 100 lbs to attach to
the back of my tractor but got it on and it really makes hooking up attachments a lot easier.
I also saved over $1,000 by getting an LS from my
dealer. everything attachments is $2,400+
Sure did a nice job on my drive way.

willy

 

[JohnnyMX]

I think I'm going to try a few different settings to see what works best. With my older, lighter set up, the rippers on the box blade wouldn't dig unless I hit it right after a rain. The bad part is that is too wet to really use the box blade or land plane as things would be a bit too chunky to flow over the cutting edges. I may also try different settings at different points in the driveway as some spots have deep holes and others are fine. Others have "bumps" that just didn't get smoothed out perfectly when I spread the gravel in the first place. Some of the people that insist on doing 30mph down the driveway feel it more than me on these rolling hill areas

 

[JohnnyMX]

I finally got my LS land grader/plane and it
looks like the Bad Boy unit. Sure don't need
the extra support on the top and sides like the
other companies make as the side panels don't
bend and nothing to make them bend. My dealer
Mike at K& S tractor Lubbock, TX delivered it no
charge along with my 3 PT hitch I think its a
Buckwell brand and it was almost too much for this
old feller think it weights over a 100 lbs to attach to
the back of my tractor but got it on and it really makes hooking up attachments a lot easier.
I also saved over $1,000 by getting an LS from my
dealer. everything attachments is $2,400+
Sure did a nice job on my drive way.

willy

Willy - I am 100% sure I could get results from any brand if it was sized for my current tractor. I have prior experience with EA implements and realized shipping is easy to my local terminal. Also, the one-piece AR400 rippers and replaceable skids will come in handy as I've broken off and worn down WAY too many on my box blade and the side of the box blade that angles for the crown is significantly worn down as well. I had no idea that steel would wear as fast as it does so those options made sense. I got to the point of fully welding and hard-facing my box blade tines to improve their longevity. My boss always used to tell me "there is time and there is money. If you don't have a lot of one, you better have enough of the other." Time is my rarest commodity. Keep it smooth

 

[oosik]

I have a Land Pride GS2584( LPGS ) @ 800#. I always lower the rippers full depth when repairing pot holes. It does a fantastic job. I've tried adding my 400# cube of cement to the LPGS. Bringing the total weight to 1200#. Makes little to no difference. Can't go any deeper with the rippers because the side boards limit the ripper depth.

I have a 150 foot section on my mile long gravel driveway that gets "soggy" every spring. The LPGS smooths it out like a pool table. It dries out and is hard as concrete - until the coming spring.

Later this year I will be digging the ditches deeper in this 150 foot section to get better drainage. There is an entire 120 acre meadow that drains down to this single spot. It's not my meadow. If it were - I'd go out about 100 feet or so and dig another drainage ditch.

 

[Williy]

JohnnyMX Don't know if you know about
silfos solder, It was going to cost me approx
$400 just for one latch on an old chevy pickup
and I used silfos to fill in the worn out hole. You
might want to use it on your diggers. When you solder a copper pipe you can't cut the solder with
a wire cutters you don't even scratch it. I didn't
get the diggers as this unit will churn up the driveway without them.

https://www.amazon.com/SSF-6-Silver-Solder-Brazing-Rods/dp/B07S96YNBS

willy

 

[JohnnyMX]

I hardfaced 3 of 4 rippers on my old box blade with 1/8" Blue Demon hardfacing rod. The Rockwell was around 57-60 or so. The three I faced look brand new still. I have more issues with them popping off, but that is better since I started tacking them on vs. pressing the dimples. This of course just moves the failure point to something that is more of a pain to fix, but I can't win them all.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Demon-HARDCOVER-hardfacing-electrode/dp/B00I4BXPX6/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2M6DI2YEEML13&keywords=hardfacing+1%2F8%22+rod&qid=1649873680&s=hi&sprefix=hardfacing+1%2F8+r%2Ctools%2C476&sr=1-5